Kyle
H's
Webpage
2001

Table of
contents

Nuclear
Energy

How does nuclear energy work? This essay
will teach all about nuclear energy. I will explain the difference
between nuclear fission and fusion. I will also explain how a nuclear
power plant works. To help you understand this topi c better Iwill
outline the development of nuclear energy. I will discuss the
benefits of nuclear energy and where it is used. I will also analyze
the problems with nuclear energy. I hope that this introduction has
made you at least a bit interested in my project. As you can see
there is lots to know about nuclear energy. I picked this topic
because I'm really interested in it and I hope other people will be
too.

What is it?

Nuclear energy is a major form of energy made from splitting an
atom with a proton. One law of the universe is thatenergy and matter
can't be created or destroyed but can change form. This means that no
one can create or destroy energybecause another one of the laws is
the amount of energy in the universe cannot change. However, matter
can be changedinto energy. The famous scientist Albert Einstein
created the mathematical equation E=mc2 to explain this. This
equationsays E (energy) = m (mass) times c2 (speed of light squared).
Einstein used this famous equation to discover atomic energy and also
create atomic bombs.

The History of
Nuclear Energy in Canada

The date was December 2, 1942. Underneath the bleachers of a
football field at the University of Chicago, Italian NobelPrize
winner Enrico Fermi with his team of scientists were working on a
concealed project. They were attempting to build the world's first
nuclear reactor. The nuclear reactor was 400 tons of graphite
surrounding 60 tons of uranium. Canadian physicist Walter Zinn was in
charge of ZIP. ZIP was the lever that could shutdown the experiment
if anything went wrong. As Zinn turned on the machine, Fermi measured
the rise in power and in the late afternoon their goal was reached.
"The power of the reactor rose to one watt-less than one-hundredth
the power of an average light bulb but nevertheless proof that man
had controlled the release of energy from the atom"(Ontario Hydro,
1989 p.4). They sent a coded message to Washington that said, "The
Italian navigator has landed in the New World" This meant that
nuclear energy had become a reality. "Operational condition reached"
were the words dispatched to Ottawa on September 5, 1945 by Dr. Lew
Kowarski. The efforts of Canada's scientific team were a success and
Canada's and the world's first nuclear reactor was built. On December
12, 1952 an operator's error caused a power surge when the plant was
shut down. By the time the authorities could bring the plant under
control serious damage had been done to the plant. This day was known
as Black Friday. No one was hurt but radioactive particles flew
throughout the building and before the reactor was repaired some
cleaning up was at hand. Redesigning and rebuilding the plant took 14
months and the groundwork was laid for the CANDU reactor, one of the
safest in the world.

Fission and Fusion

Nuclear fission works by splitting an unstable uranium nucleus
making nuclear energy. This produces heat which boils water and
creates steam. This steam turns turbines to create energy. The
problem is that after the burning is done the leftover material stays
radioactive for thousands of years. "Plutonium-239, aby-product of
uranium, remains radioactive for 24,110 years" (Ergon Energy, 1999).
Nuclear fusion is supposed to be a very clean form of energy. It
works by combining two nuclei to make a bigger nucleus. The picture
to the right shows this. Fusion gives off energy to boil water and
make steam to turn turbines. Unfortunately scientists have not yet
been able to use nuclear fusion to make electricity because there are
three things required. First, you need an extremely high temperature.
Second, you need to have 2 small nuclei that will fuse together and
give off energy. Third, you need the ability to capture the energy
given off. As you know nuclear fission works on uranium but nuclear
fusion uses deuterium and tritium, both isotopes of hydrogen which is
an unlimited source of energy. Therefore nuclear fusion could
possibly last forever.

How does a nuclear
reactor work?

A nuclear power plant works like this. First you put in a uranium
bundle of about eight rods. Second, you fire a proton at one of the
uranium nuclei to split it. This causes a chain reaction splitting
all of the other nuclei. The reaction is slowed down by using heavy
water. "Chemically, heavy water is called deuterium oxide. Thus the
Canadian reactor is named CANDU, for CANada Deuterium Uranium"
(Canadian Nuclear Association, 1991). Heavy water, which is also used
as a coolant in the nuclear reaction, is heated and travels to heat
exchangers to produce steam from ordinary water. The steam turns
turbines, which makes electricity. This is called nuclear
fission.

Advantages and
Disadvantages

Nuclear energy has some good and bad qualities. One of its best
qualities is that it gives off lots of energy from little amounts of
uranium. One major disadvantage is that it makes variable amounts of
radioactive waste. This waste is causing a big problem for the world
for its storage and irradiating. Another advantage to this form of
energy is that it doesn't give off greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases
are gases like carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and flyash, which have
made the greenhouse affect or global warming. The problem with using
this power though is that there is always a chance of a meltdown. A
meltdown is when the uranium and nuclear waste are heated to such a
level that they melt creating a substance that can supposedly melt
through steel, concrete and iron. This is the reason a lot of people
don't like nuclear energy but the chance of a meltdown is about a
million to one. Nuclear energy is cheap too and it helps provide jobs
to people. Perhaps the biggest advantage to nuclear energy is the
discoveries they have made in nuclear medicine. Such as cancer
therapy, CAT scan, MRI machines and the use of irradiation of
food.

Conclusion

Most people think that nuclear energy is a very polluting, very
dangerous kind of energy and is the worst kind of power but it isn't
that bad. I think that overall nuclear energy is a good energy to
use. The chance of a meltdown is very slim and it is a very efficient
source of electricity. It is one of the best sources of energy we
have today and I think it is a very good source of energy. If we
could get nuclear fusion to work it would be even better though. I
hope you are now very interested in nuclear energy and understand
that it's not so big and bad. As you can see there is lot's to know
and even on this presentation I didn't tell you everything about it.
I hoped you liked my project and now know something you didn't know
before. So to conclude this project I want to say please don't talk
badly about nuclear fission and fusion.